


The Order of the Silver Ship

by amethystviolist



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Action & Romance, Action/Adventure, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Comedy, F/F, F/M, Found Family, Gen, Happy Ending, Kidnapping, M/M, Multi, general badassery, if you think of any good tags let me know, there's no ATLA characters, this is TAZ characters in the world of ATLA, warning for violence is not necessarily "graphic" but just be prepared for some blood and such
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-19
Updated: 2018-08-19
Packaged: 2019-06-29 19:23:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15735807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amethystviolist/pseuds/amethystviolist
Summary: In a world where some people have the power to control the elements, a group of unlikely friends band together to rescue their loved ones, take serious issues lightly, escape a literal army, create a goofy secret society (that's maybe not so goofy after all), crack stupid jokes, kick tyrannical ass, and maybe save the world somewhere along the way.An original plotline created with TAZ characters in the world of ATLA.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Damn I forgot I needed to get a title for this thing. Titles are the worst. I almost named this "The Avatar Zone."
> 
> Sorry this first bit is so short. It felt like it needed to stand on its own. Don't worry, the following chapters are MUCH longer. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

There are four elements which comprise most of our world: Fire, Air, Water, Earth. Some people may be able to control an element, bending nature under their will after extensive training, but only the Avatar is able to master all four elements.

More than two hundred years ago, an organization called the White Lotus overtook the world on the Day of Awakening. History scrolls say they ruled benevolently, and that all peoples were grateful for the enforcement of global peace.

But for decades there have been whispers of something wrong in the government. Strange deaths, the disappearance of the Avatar for several years, missing people, and even a few small outbreaks of rebellion in recent years only lend strength to the growing unease. 

The forces of the White Lotus are legendary; they are the only group to ever conquer the whole world, after all. These forces, when all assembled together, were at one time said to “hunger for justice.” Now, it seems they are only a tool used by those hungry for power. Aptly, they have gained the nickname of “The Hunger.”

Alone, not even the Avatar could defeat the forces of the Hunger. But together, maybe a few could have a chance. Maybe a few can end the tyranny of a government enforcing peace through violence.

Maybe a handful of ordinary,  _ amazing  _ people can save the world.


	2. Chapter One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With a flick of his hand, Taako reversed the path of the icicles, sending them shooting back toward the figure, who simply blocked them with a shield of ice.
> 
> “Stop in the name of the Order of the White Lotus!” yelled the enemy waterbender.
> 
> “Fat chance, my dude!” Taako shouted back, and lifted both arms above his head as he reached the banks of the river. “See you never!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now for the good stuff.

 

**_Griffin:_ ** _Do you remember the last thing you said?_

**_Travis/Magnus:_ ** _I said, “I love you, Jules.”_

_\- TAZ Episode 48: The Eleventh Hour, Chapter Eight_

 

 

* * *

_Waihai_ , _White Lotus Northern Water Province, Spring 215 DA_  

* * *

“This book is so _stupid_ ,” Carey giggled, nestling deeper into her girlfriend’s arms.

Killian grumbled under her breath, “ _You’re_ so stupid. This is quality literature right here.”

“Oh please, it’s a _step_ above porn,” Carey snorted.

“Hmm, so you think you could do better?” Killian asked teasingly, looking at Carey with a goofy grin.

“Babe, you _know_ I can do better. To you.”

“Hey, gross!” Killian laughed playfully, and reached over to tickle Carey in retribution. Carey shrieked with laughter, squirming away from Killian’s large, clever fingers, and ended up falling on the floor with a small _thud_.

“I yield, I yield!” Carey howled, and Killian braced her hands on either side of Carey’s slighter frame, her broad grin enhanced by the gentle emotion in her brown eyes.

“Gotcha,” Killian murmured, and captured Carey’s lips in a deep kiss, one Carey all-too-happily returned.

Things were just getting maybe a _little_ heated, when there was an unexpected knock on the door.

Killian pulled back with a slight frown. “Are we expecting someone?”

“Yes,” Carey groused good-naturedly, “I’m expecting you to get back to what you were doing two seconds ago.”

“No, really,” Killian said, drifting to where she left her crossbow on a nearby table. “There have been rumors recently, people saying that the Hunger is taking prisoners, maybe trying to root out the rebellion or maybe trying to force people to join their forces-”

Carey sat up, her face now wearing a matching concerned expression. “Babe, you didn’t think to tell me this?”

“I didn’t want to worry-” Killian began apologetically, and then their door was forced open with a sudden _bang!_ and a stream of armored soldiers burst into the room with weapons drawn.

The next few minutes were a blur of battle. Carey called down flickering lighting to her fingertips and fried a few, but had to resort to her knives when Killian moved to watch her back.

Killian fired her gigantic crossbow as quickly as possible until she was out of the few bolts she had grabbed, and then lifted her foot and stomped on the ground, rotating her foot as she raised her arms. Bubbling magma rose from the ground at her bidding, engulfing those in the doorway temporarily, until an enemy earthbender laid down a stone bridge.

The soldiers, impossibly, continued to pour into the room in a seemingly endless wave, and then...

Killian cried out. A blade had gone through her back, blood was pouring down her robes, she was falling, falling to the floor-

-and Carey _snapped_.

She screamed, electricity arcing off her limbs and jumping to the enemies surrounding her. Carey protectively crouched over a fallen Killian, her teeth bared in an almost feral snarl as she readied her knives. To her surprise, the soldiers remained in a ring around her, but did not advance.

“Come on,” Carey challenged, her voice so low she was nearly growling. What were they waiting for?

“A dragon-byorn,” an almost silly voice said, and Carey looked up to see another soldier - clearly an officer, as shown by the fancy helmet with a purple plume - stride into the room.

“Another vord for a firebender taught by zeh very dragons zemselves? Eef I am not horribly mistaken?” the officer continued.

Carey responded by calling lightning, directing it through a knife to bolt toward the officer.

Unfortunately, the officer dodged, smiling even as Carey’s blast collided with another soldier.

The officer actually gave a little clap. “Zat vas very impressive! I should think you vill help us out very much, _ja_. Hekai, if you vill?”

Carey turned sharply at sudden movement to her right, just in time to see a club growing larger before everything went dark. The dragonborn collapsed limply over her girlfriend’s bleeding body.

“No,” Killian choked out, voice catching on her own blood - and that couldn’t be good - but despite her most valiant efforts, the large woman couldn’t rise to Carey’s defense as the firebender was lifted and carried away.

“ _Ja_ , she vill be very useful,” the officer said smugly, and then glanced to the floor where Killian lay, gasping in pain. “Miss Earthbender? You vill die very soon, I think. So, ah, good luck in the afterlife? And ve vill take very good care of your friend, so don’t vorry. Now goodbye!”

“Fuck you,” Killian got out, and lay her head back on the floor, wincing as her gaping wound twisted in response to her attempt to sit up.

The soldiers filed out as quickly as they had come, taking their dead and wounded with them, leaving Killian alone, her vision wavering dangerously as she stained their carpet with an ever-growing puddle of blood.

 

* * *

_Rockport, White Lotus Earth Province, Summer 215 DA_

* * *

“Hey sis, I’m home!” Taako called, tossing his pointed, broad-brimmed hat on the counter. “How was work?”

The apartment remained silent.

Frowning, Taako stepped into the small living room further. Surely Lup would be back by now.

“Lup?” He called again, and ducked behind the screen hiding their sleeping pallets. He frowned at the abandoned blankets, and then peered into the kitchen, equally empty.

Unnerved now, Taako put his hands on his hips, forcing a slight smile on his face. “Alright, very funny, but there’s not many places to hide. Come on out, Lulu, I _mean_ it.”

No response.

Taako admitted he was slightly nervous now. He marched back to the door and crammed his hat on his head, ready to check any nearby place that she could be, when he caught sight of a scribbled note laid on the counter. He picked it up, already feeling a rush of preliminary relief.

But the note only held two very unhelpful words, sealed with a kiss:

“ _Back soon_.”

Taako grumbled under his breath and began making dinner for two, even if he was sorely tempted to make Lup cook her own dinner for scaring him so much.

After another hour passed, Taako ate alone. Lup’s dinner was cold.

Another two hours passed, and Taako went to bed uneasy. She probably just found someone to go home with, he tried to tell himself. She was probably really happy. She would be back in the morning, and Taako could yell at her and hug her tight.

But Taako didn’t wake up to the blinding sunlight creeping in their open window. He awoke to the sound of shouting, the threatening vibrations of boots shaking the floor. Taako sat up in yesterday’s clothes, immediately reaching for his hat with one hand and for his waterskin with the other.

There was one loud _bang!_ , and then the door to Taako’s and Lup’s apartment swung open to smash against the other wall, allowing a dozen soldiers to swarm the room.

“You’re surrounded! Freeze!” a soldier yelled at the sight of Taako, fire wreathing their fingers.

“No thanks, homie. Why don’t _you_ freeze,” Taako replied snarkily, his heart hammering in his chest, and he snapped one hand in the soldier’s direction, freezing their boots to the floor as he leapt backwards out the window.

Taako caught himself easily on a slide of ice, dodging bolts of fire from his former apartment, one arm furthering the slide in front of him and the other dissolving the ice behind him back into bendable water. He zoomed over the heads of soldiers surrounding his apartment building, blocking surprised bursts of arrows and various elemental attacks. His ice began to melt under another waterbender’s control, but Taako just jumped over the watery patch and continued to surf on a wave of steadily thinning ice toward the river.

“Come on, come on,” Taako muttered to himself, willing his water supply to stretch just a little farther. Icicles began to whistle past his head, and Taako turned to see a blue-and-white-clad waterbender on a slide of their own, surfing after Taako with - he smugly noted - considerably less grace. With a flick of his hand, Taako reversed the path of the icicles, sending them shooting back toward the figure, who simply blocked them with a shield of ice.

“Stop in the name of the Order of the White Lotus!” yelled the enemy waterbender.

“Fat chance, my dude!” Taako shouted back, and lifted both arms above his head as he reached the banks of the river. “See you _never_!”

Taako brought both his arms down and forward with tremendous force, and what seemed to be the entire contents of the river rose up and slammed into the surprised enemy bender in one powerful wall of force. Taako didn’t wait to see the results of his attack. He dove into what remained of the river, and propelled himself in a safe bubble downstream, the sounds of shouting behind him immediately muted.

Taako knew three new facts from this encounter: One, that the rumors were true. People were suspiciously going missing, usually benders. Two, Lup had been taken, or was in hiding. She couldn’t be dead.

And three: Taako was absolutely, without a doubt, going to find his sister.

 

* * *

_Goldcliff, White Lotus Earth Province, Spring 215 DA_

* * *

The attack was swift and fierce. Hurley had taken down six benders on her own, freeing Sloane up to sink her deadly blades into the chests of the ones approaching with weapons, but even their combined skills were not enough. In moments, the two non-benders were overcome.

“She’s not a bender!” Hurley yelled, twisting and fighting the rocks that had roughly ensnared her outstretched limbs. “She’s not a bender! Leave her alone, you don’t need to take her! She’s _not a bender_!”

“Sloane Ravenwing,” an officer said in a low, smooth voice, his black-plumed helmet bobbing, “It would be best if your friend ceased to struggle.”

“Let me _go_ ,” Sloane snarled, shaking angrily as her eyes darted to to each soldier surrounding her with spears and fire, “My girlfriend is right, I’m no bender. And I want no part of your sick experimentation!”

“We certainly do not harm any who join the ranks of the White Lotus,” the officer said calmly. “And neither will we harm you. But the daughter of the Chief of the Northern Water Tribe should be a valuable asset to our cause. Especially in such uncertain times.”

Sloane’s eyes were wide. “How did…”

“Please!” Hurley yelled, “She- She’s not who you think! Sloane isn’t the chief’s daughter, she- she couldn’t-”

“Kill the small one,” the officer ordered with a dismissive wave of his hand, and a soldier drew their sword, ready to obey. Hurley’s wrists were slick with blood from her attempted escape from unmoving stone. Still, she kicked and thrashed and shouted as the soldier came closer and closer. She had to get to Sloane, she had to help her, she had to stop them from taking her-

“Wait!” The soldier paused at Sloane’s shout. Hurley, too, temporarily stopped struggling, looking at her girlfriend with frightened eyes.

Sloane’s posture was slumped, but she still gave the officer a fierce glare. “If- If I go with you, in exchange, you must let Hurley go. You cannot pursue or harm her in any way. Do we have an accord?”

“Sloane, _no_ -!” Hurley yelled, but the officer was already nodding. The knives in Sloane’s hands clinked to the ground. Manacles snapped shut around Sloane’s delicate wrists and ankles, and before Hurley’s eyes, her favorite person in the entire world was dragged out of her sight.

“I apologize for any inconvenience,” the officer said to Hurley in his slow, deep voice. He didn’t sound very sincere. “You will be released shortly.”

“You can’t get away with this,” Hurley said with deep certainty, her bruised chin held high. “I am an officer in the Goldcliff Militia. Kidnapping citizens is a crime even members of the White Lotus cannot-”

The man in the black-plumed helmet had already stopped listening. “Please give Captain Captain Bane my gratitude, as well as his promised payment for his information,” he told one of the soldiers still in the room, who nodded and left swiftly.

Hurley felt as though she had been struck. “Captain Bane… He told you that Sloane-!” Hurley felt a rage more powerful than a hurricane sweep through her at the betrayal. She yelled, and prayed fervently that she would discover latent bending powers, that she could blast the military persons in Sloane’s apartment right out the window in a self-created storm-

But her scream only faded into silence. The soldiers filed out of the ruined apartment, carrying their wounded and their dead. The last one out used their bending to shift the rock around Hurley, putting her inside a rock cell that she would, in an hour’s time, finally be able to push down in a cloud of dust.

For now, though, Hurley fell to her knees caked in blood and dust and sweat, and began to sob.

 

* * *

_Raven’s Roost, White Lotus Fire Province, Autumn 215 DA_

* * *

“Jules, please. It’s not safe for you to go out there. You- You might get hurt. Please, Jules-” Magnus Burnsides, tears in his eyes, reached for his wife.

Smiling softly, Julia obliged, embracing Magnus in a tight hug from her powerful arms. “You know I can’t just stand by while you and the others go out there to protect people. I have to help.”

“Then promise you won’t bend. Unless you have to,” Magnus pleaded. “Use your sword in-”

There was another scream from outside, and both of their heads turned to the sound, expressions grim. Time was running out.

“I can’t promise that, Mags,” Julia replied quietly, one hand extending to cup Magnus’s face gently. “But I can promise that I’ll be careful.” She quirked a small smile. “I can take care of myself, you know.”

“Oh, I know,” Magnus half-laughed, a brave attempt at levity. “I just…” He took Julia’s hand from his cheek and kissed it gently. “I just worry about you, especially here. This is a war, after all.”

“Then let’s go win it,” Julia said with determination, and stomped on the ground. In response, a dozen mid-sized rocks leaped into the air and swirled around her hands.

“I love you, Jules,” Magnus said with emotion, hefting his large axe to his shoulder.

“Love you too, honey,” Julia said sweetly, and then burst out of their temporary base, a thick wall of rock shielding their exit from enemy assault.

Magnus charged into battle with a roar, bashing anyone in blue and white armor with his shield, cutting them down with his axe, and generally kicking ass. To his right, Julia’s presence was made clear by the grinding and thumping of rocks, the sounds of the very earth moving underneath her enemies’ feet to toss them aside or encase them in rocky prisons with ease.

After what seemed like hours but must have only been minutes, a brass horn sounded from a distance. Wiping the sweat and blood from his face, Magnus searched for the source of the call, dread pooling in his stomach. Atop a nearby hill, a man in a red-plumed helmet stood tall, backed by ranks of dozens of newly arrived soldiers.

“Shit,” Magnus muttered.

“Your hat is stupid!” Julia yelled.

“Oh, hell yeah!” Magnus agreed in a shout ringing with more confidence than he felt.

The officer cracked a small, dismissive smile, almost amused as he surveyed the pitiful rebellion force assembled in Raven’s Roost.

“The prime goal of this mission is to capture the benders,” he ordered simply. “Kill or capture all others.”

With that, the forces of the White Lotus thundered downhill, weapons gleaming, fire blasting, ice flying, rocks rumbling, air screaming.

Magnus and Julia Burnsides, among only five or six close friends, braced themselves for the onslaught, eyes meeting one last time with mixed determination and fear.

In only minutes, the rebellion was subdued. Magnus was frozen in a pillar of ice, only his head left in the open air, teeth chattering. On the ground next to him, Rolik was dead, face blackened by the enemy firebender who had killed him. Farther away, somewhere behind him, Magnus heard a loud, dreadfully familiar cry.

“ _Julia_!” Magnus shouted, struggling madly to break out of the ice encasing him. If only he had been born a firebender like his mother, if only he could make his burning rage literal-

“And who are you?” Stupid Hat Man asked Magnus, cocking his head to one side in calm consideration as he appeared in front of Magnus’s trapped form.

“The man who’s going to rip your damn head off,” Magnus growled fiercely. His repeated straining had slightly melted some of the ice around him. He thrashed as wildly as he was able, fully intending to follow through with his promise.

“A nonbender?” The officer asked, coolly unconcerned.

“I don’t need the elements to bend your bones until they crack,” Magnus promised darkly. “Where. Is. Julia!”

“Tell me who else was involved in this pathetic little uprising, and then I’ll find this girl.” The man’s expression remained unchanged, and Magnus yelled in frustration.

“I will tell you _nothing_ , you slimy son of a maggot slug!” Magnus spat.

Stupid Hat Man sighed slightly. “Disappointing,” he said, still unaffected by Magnus’s rage, “but not surprising.” He turned to a nearby soldier, and ordered, “Get him to one of the airships going south. I think the Island will do quite nicely.”

“Julia!” Magnus screamed again and again as four guards picked up his frozen form. He still couldn’t see her. Was she even alive? There were hot tears streaming down his freezing face, doing little to melt the ice around him as he continued yelling until the doors of the airship clanged shut behind him.

“Julia! Julia! _Julia_!”

He never heard a response.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew, that was a heavy one. 
> 
> If you have just two minutes to spare, a comment would be greatly appreciated! As an author comments and feedback mean the world to me! You can also hit me up on tumblr at amethystviolist.tumblr.com
> 
> Next chapter will be up when it's done, probably a week or so! Thanks for your patience.


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